Rapper 50 Cent has apologized for his insensitive tweets about autism and deleted them from his Twitter timeline. Several people were outraged by his comments, including actress and autism activist Holly Robinson Peete, who eldest son was diagnosed with autism at age 3. “I realize my autism comments were insensitive, however it was not my intention to offend anyone and for this I apologize,” 50 Cent wrote. The Hollywood Reporter reports:

Rapper 50 Cent caused a Twitter uproar after he responded bitterly to an overeager fan on the social networking site, writing for his nearly 7 million followers, “yeah just saw your picture fool you look autistic.” The fan had earlier jabbed at the rapper about his upcoming new record, “5 (Murder by Numbers),” “Release the album or get shot again.”

The rapper didn’t stop there: “I don’t want no special ed kids on my time line follow some body else,” he wrote. 50 Cent released the album shortly afterward (the full record is available for download on his website for free).

But his comments were not overlooked, and several people were upset by his comments, including actress and autism activist Holly Robinson Peete, whose eldest son RJ was diagnosed with autism at age 3. Peete wrote an open letter to the rapper and included a picture of her now-13-year-old son, saying, “this is my son Rodney Peete. He has autism. So I guess this is what autistic looks like? He is in special ed. He loves rap music and is a HUGE fan of yours. He’s a tremendous kid. He has to deal with so much trying to fit in. This isn’t helping.”